The Real Earth Day

A few Friday’s ago, man celebrated the “41st Earth Day,” cleaning mother earth by picking up garbage, planting trees, and promoting composting. On that same day (Good Friday), the church celebrated the Father sending the Son to die on a cross to clean us.

The competing celebrations offered quite the contrast. One was man’s effort to clean up our temporary home; the other was God’s to give us an eternal one. Man’s effort will have to be done again next year—the “42nd Earth Day” is already on the calendar; whereas the Son had to die just once (1 Peter 3:18) to accomplish what He came to do. Man’s set aside day cleans the surface—that’s easy; God sent Jesus to clean our heart—something much filthier (Jeremiah 17:9).

When you want to know something about a movement, study their founder. “Earth Day” began in a Philadelphia park on April 22, 1970. On stage that day was a man named Ira Einhorn. He was a tie-dye wearing ecological hippie who funded his “flower-power” and environmental driven agenda as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. But a man’s words and actions reveals his heart (Luke 6:45). Seven years after that day in the park, police raided Einhorn’s apartment and found the body of his ex-girlfriend (Holly Maddux) inside a trunk. Beyond sick and twisted, Maddux’s body had been decomposing in Einhorn’s closet for 18 months. “Earth Day” founder Ira Einhorn is spending the rest of his life in a Pennsylvania penitentiary.

The founder of Good Friday has a much different resume. His actions revealed His heart. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

It’s nice, I suppose, to set aside a day to clean up our mother; but the day to really celebrate was when the Father sent the Son. That is when the real cleaning took place. And even mother earth knows which was greater; she groans for the day the One Who cleaned us will return (Romans 8:22).

Pastor Rich Hamlin
May 5, 2011

1 comment

  1. What incisive thoughts put to paper. Very poignant. Thank you.

    And Happy Birthday!

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